Phase difference films such as those used for optical compensation of liquid crystal display devices are required to have an ability to reduce the change of color tone of the display device depending on an observation angle, and thus a variety of techniques therefor have been developed in prior art. For example, Patent Literature 1 proposes a phase difference film in which a film formed of a resin having a positive intrinsic birefringence value and a film formed of a resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value are attached to each other. However, the resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value usually has low strength and is brittle. For this reason, when a layer formed of the resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value is exposed on the surface of a phase difference film, the layer formed of the resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value is easily broken in handling of the phase difference film.
Aiming at prevention of breakage of the layer formed of the resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value, Patent Literature 2 proposes that a layer formed of the resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value is interposed between a pair of layers formed of the resin having a positive intrinsic birefringence value. According to the structure described in Patent Literature 2, the pair of layers formed of the resin having a positive intrinsic birefringence value can protect the layer formed of the resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value, whereby breakage of the layer formed of the resin having a negative intrinsic birefringence value can be prevented.